WORK on Oman’s biggest independent power project (IPP) at Sur with an investment of around $1.6 billion is to start next month.

Phoenix Power Company, a special-purpose company of which Marubeni, Chubu Electric Power Company of Japan, Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) of Qatar and Multitech of Oman are shareholders, was awarded the contract in June.

The site for the project is located at the Sur Industrial Estate, approximately 150 km south-east of Muscat on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. The project includes the design, construction, ownership, financing, operation and maintenance of a 2,000-MW gas-fired power generation facility under a 15-year power offtake agreement with the state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP).

Construction on the Sur IPP is to start in October with early power commencement scheduled set for April 2013 and commercial operation scheduled for April 2014, according to a spokesman for the project.

The project is the first independent power project in Oman for both Marubeni and Chubu, which will hold 50 and 30 per cent of stakes respectively in the project. QEWC, owned more than 40 per cent by the Qatari government is a 15 per cent partner. Multitech holds the remaining five per cent.

In addition, Phoenix Power Company will also sign a gas supply agreement with the Ministry of Oil and Gas, a usufruct agreement with the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates, and a founders agreement with the Electricity Holding Company (EHC).